


The Totally Unnecessary NY/PA Circus AU

by magicandlight



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers, Statetalia
Genre: Alternate Universe - Circus, Alternate Universe - Human, Brooke is Dutch-Afghani, Brooke is a trapeze artist, F/M, Inspired by The Greatest Showman (2017), Kind of follows the plot of the greatest showman but not all the way?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-17
Updated: 2019-05-17
Packaged: 2020-03-06 20:39:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18858685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magicandlight/pseuds/magicandlight
Summary: Will feels alive for the first time in his life beside Alfred.Alfred's a madman with a circus, but he's brilliant and burning and his vigor is contagious.Will's laughing as he's pushed through the curtain and to the balcony of the second floor, and then he stops.The world moves in slow motion, and there's a girl.





	The Totally Unnecessary NY/PA Circus AU

1.

Will feels alive for the first time in his life beside Alfred.

Alfred's a madman with a circus, but he's brilliant and burning and his vigor is contagious.

Will's laughing as he's pushed through the curtain and to the balcony of the second floor, and then he stops.

The world moves in slow motion, and there's a girl.

She  _flies_  through the air, only held up by her knees hooked over a trapeze, and the high point of her swing puts her only a few feet in front of him.

Will takes his hat off from some reflexive memory of half-remembered etiquette lesson on how to behave in the presence of a lady.

She has the brightest blue eyes he's ever seen, lined in silver to match her hair.

He can't even breathe.

She falls back down and the audience cheers.

Will feels like he's been sucker-punched.

"Who is  _that_?" He breathes out, and Alfred grins.

"Come on, I'll introduce you."

\------------------------

Alfred presents them with a flourish. "Nicky and Brooke, our trapeze artists, meet William Buchanan, our newest recruit."

Nicky rolls his eyes at the dramatics, but he's smiling.

Brooke looks up from where she was unwrapping her wrists. "What's your act?"

"I- I don't- I don't have an act." God, one look and a question and she's reduced him to stuttering. Will's never stuttered in his life.

"Everyone's got an act." She gives him a faint smile and walks away towards the performer's dressing rooms.

Will stares after her helplessly, and misses the look Nicky gives him.   
  


2.

The next day, Will sits up in the stands and watches a practice.

It isn't a dress rehearsal, so they're all in plain clothes, but even without the eye-catching costumes and hair, his attention is drawn to the two trapeze artists flying through the air.

They dance and weave through the sky, and Will smiles when the other three aerialists join them and are greeted enthusiastically as they all divide the open air amongst them.

The circus is vibrant and colorful and alive, and this is just a plainclothes rehearsal.

"So what do you think?" Alfred asks.

Will smiles. "It's _amazing_."  
  


3.

Working for the circus is astronomically different from working in the theater.

For one, he wasn't terrified that something would go wrong and someone would die during a show at the theater.

Will hadn't realized it at first- that every time the circus performed, they risked their lives. Mindy looked like grace personified as she did her flips up on the raised balance beam, but he'd seen the day her foot slipped and she fell ten feet to the ground- she tucked and rolled and came out of it with only a sprained ankle, but it was scary. Kendall's horse would throw him if it was panicked. Jules and Flora were working with wild animals that could turn on them at any moment. Sam and Marisol were literally playing with fire.

But he's never seen either of the trapeze artists stumble or slip.

So stupidly, he'd assumed they never did.

\------------------------

Will's too busy to really watch Brooke, usually. He hasn't actually watched her since that first practice after he'd joined the circus.

He can hear her and Nicky swinging above the ring, jumping and flipping back and forth. Can hear them counting as they time their stunts during practice (he can't hear it during shows, the singing drowns it out). He'll catch a flash of silvery blue as Nicky or Brooke moves and their costume catches the light.

They're a constant presence up above the ring. When they take breaks during rehearsals, they swing up to the rigging platform and sit, calling out the mistakes only they (and the crowd) will ever see. They're always startling the others when they come down- jumping from the lowest part of the trapeze and landing with a barely-there  _thump_.

He wishes he could watch them, because from the crowd's reactions and the glances he steals during rehearsals and shows, Brooke and Nicky must be amazing.

Will's especially busy today since Alfred is off at some meeting, so he doesn't see the moment Brooke slips.

He hears her and Nicky counting and then there's a yelp and Brooke  _falls_.

(There is no safety net, no harnesses. There are just the two siblings forty feet in the air-)

Nicky grabs one of her legs, cursing as he takes her whole weight on one arm. His knees are hooked over one of the hoops, not unlike one of their stunts, but Brooke dangles instead of flying, and  _god_ , she'd fallen so far before he caught her, what if Nicky had been further away-

He says something in a language Will doesn't know, and very carefully, painfully slow, Brooke extends her other leg up towards Nicky.

Nicky catches her ankle with his other hand, and then he swings her back up to the safety of her trapeze, and this time, Brooke's hands catch it. She swings for a moment and then _jumps_.

Will's heart leaps into his throat. She lands on the second-floor observation deck with a thump harder than the usual ones.

Nicky drops down, too, running after her.

Will makes to go after her, too, and Adam grabs his arm. "Don't. Give them some time to settle down and they'll come back to practice. They'll be fine missing part of one practice."

"I don't care about the practice." Will bites out.

He cares that for a moment, he thought Brooke was going to die. That he'd never get to see those electric blue eyes again, that he'd never see her after a good show again, covered in glitter and sweat, silvery wig off and black hair messy.

(That he'd never get to fix them, they'd never get to be something more-)

"Oh," Adam mumbles after a moment. He shakes his head. "That's not a good idea right now. Brooke- they get really tense after stuff like that-"

"That's happened before?"

Adam gives him a blank look. "They're trapeze artists. Of course they've had close calls."

"How close? When?"

Adam is frowning. "Well, Nicky's got a scar on his wrist where Brooke says he tried to catch himself and broke it, and Brooke was covered in bruises for a week 'cause she fell from the middle dance trapeze-" Adam waves his hand at one of them.

Will must make a confused face, because Adam elaborates. "The ones with the ropes that make a 'v'? It was the center one. As for when, you didn't see that time Brooke fell during that show? Two, three weeks ago? She played it off pretty well, acted like she'd come down on purpose and stayed in step with us until Nicky managed to lower one of the aerial hoops and she went back up."

Will remembers that show- the one where Brooke had danced with him for a second, where he'd spun her into an impromptu dip, and she laughed. He remembered wondering why she had decided to join them on the ground.

She hadn't decided. She'd fallen and then had to play it off so the audience wouldn't worry.

Will doesn't want to know how devasted he must look. Adam gives him a soft look, then glances up. "Give her some time to calm down before you talk to her, yeah?"

Will glances up, too, catching the sights of Brooke, Nicky beside her, ready to leap back onto the trapeze once Adam gives the all clear on the ropes.

"I've got to go check the ropes, okay?" Adam says, not waiting for a response.

\------------------------

"You okay?" Will asks softly as Brooke swings lightly on one of the hoops, an hour after practice is over and everyone else has left the ring.

It's almost childish, but Brooke seems to love perching on the hoops or the trapezes and swinging.

(He'd asked Nicky once, if Brooke had loved swingsets as a child. Nicky had laughed and said they hadn't gone to playgrounds much.

"Why?" Will had asked, and Nicky had gestured at his face. It took Will a moment to realize it was because of his skin.)

Brooke looks at him, and Will notes the way her eyeshadow is smudged a little. Her eyeliner is still clean, though, the silvery metallic makeup forming sharp edges. Cal calls them cat-eyes, he thinks.

"I didn't hit the ground," Brooke says, which isn't really an answer. Will holds out his arm.

For a moment, he thinks Brooke will ignore his hand and he'll look stupid, but she sets one of her gloved hands in his and slips out of the hoop to stand on the railing.

Will sets a hand on her hip to steady her as she jumps down to the floor.

Reluctantly, he pulls away.

Brooke goes to run her hand through her hair, and then remembers her wig and drops her hand.

"Are you okay?" Will asks again, as Brooke moves around him towards the dressing room. Her costume dips low in the back (well, the front too) to show the stars tattooed on her spine.

Brooke's and Nicky's costumes were both designed to showcase their bodies, to highlight their exotic features and skin tones. Silvery blue to contrast their warm brown skin, the silver eyeliner on both to accentuate delicate and sharp features. It was all part of the act, as Nicky said.

On show nights, Cal carefully traced their tattoos with the same silver liner she used on their eyes.

"I'm fine. I'll perform tomorrow. We already know the act, so missing twenty minutes of practice won't ruin us-"

"I don't give a damn about the show," Will tells her.

Brooke pauses. "You should. It's your job, and it's mine, too."

Will leans against the dressing room door, watching as Brooke takes off the wig, revealing her black hair. She sets the wig on the form, taking her hair out the tight updo. She takes off her fingerless gloves, and sits down to unlace her trapeze boots. They left her toes and heels bare, and clung to her calves tightly.

Her toes are painted blue, Will realizes.

She eased the first one off, and Will inhaled sharply at the dark bruise wrapped around her ankle where Nicky had caught her.

Will hugs her before he can thank better of it.

"It was terrifying when you fell," Will mumbles against her neck.

Brooke exhales heavily. "It happens."

"I thought you were going to die. I- I don't know what I'd do without you."

Brooke huffs. She smiles, but it's the one he hates, the self-deprecating one. "You'd find another girl that catches your attention, and the circus would hire a new trapeze artist."

"Brooke-"

She pushes him out of the dressing room and shuts the door behind him.  
  


4.

"There's someone here to see you," Jake tells him and Alfred quietly.

"Who?" Alfred asks.

"Says she's Will's mom."

Will's breath catches.

Alfred gives him a long look before turning to the others. "Everyone, take five, alright?"

Will mumbles his thanks and takes off for the entrance to the circus.

\------------------------

Will doesn't miss his father, or the life he left behind. He'd been driven to drink by that life, and he was happier here.

But he does miss his mother.

Still, he should have known better.

"William, it isn't too late- we can fix your reputation and come back home-"

"Mother-"

"You can't stay here, William-"

"Will?"

He turns towards that voice, eyes widening at the sight of Brooke standing in the doorway.

His mother stares in horror at her, her color and clothing. And then she straightens up, squaring her shoulders as best as she can. "And who might you be?"

Brooke looks away from Will, gaze sweeping over his mother. "Brooke. I work with the trapeze."

"Brooke..." His mother prompts, searching for a last name.

Will opens his mouth only to realize he doesn't know her last name.

"Janssen." Brooke murmurs, no longer paying attention to his mother. "Will? Are you coming? We're starting again."

Will pulls away from his mother, glad for the excuse. "Goodbye, mother."  
  


5.

"So, your last name is Janssen?"

Brooke glances up at him but doesn't pause in wrapping her wrists. "Yes."

"German?"

"Dutch. It's what the white half of me is."

"I didn't mean it like that."

"You sure?" Brooke rolls her eyes. "The other half of me is Afghani."

Will looked at her as she checked the rope. "Where you born there?"

"My mother was," Brooke answered. "Now, I have to practice, so if you could excuse me-"

Will stepped away. "Right, of course, sorry."  
  


5.

They fight. Will mentions that Brooke should play up her grace and elegance more in her routine, and Brooke snaps and it escalates.

"Why are you here? Just go back to your fancy rich boy plays and your parents and let the circus be!" Brooke turns away dismissively.

"You don't know fuck about my life." Will snarls, grabbing her arm and roughly pulling her back to face him.

Brooke goes still, tensing, and Will realizes what he's done.

He drops her arm, and Brooke is gone before he can apologize.

She doesn't even look at him during practices or shows for weeks.   
  


6.

"Are we all invited?" Brooke asks quietly, and his excitement about the Queen and the letter disappears and he looks at her, at Nicky and Evangeline and Drew and the others.

"If we can't all go, then we won't go at all." He tells her firmly.

(He doesn't realize until later that those were the first words she'd spoken to him in almost a month.)  
  


7.

They're standing in Buckingham Palace, and never in Will's wildest dreams had he thought this was possible.

Will's trying to relax when he catches sight of Brooke.

Brooke's arms are crossed across her chest, her head ducked.

"Brooke?"

"They're looking at us," she whispered.

Will raised an eyebrow. "Aren't they always? We're literally  _in_  the circus."

"It's different here," Brooke insisted. "They just stare and we have to let them."

"It's a choice when we perform," Nicky adds when Will still doesn't understand.

Will searches for a way to reassure them both.

"Being here is like a dream," Brooke said slowly, like she knew she was going to break his heart with her words. "But it cost any dignity we might have had left."

Will doesn't understand until suddenly the mindless chatter he's learned to ignore began to filter through.

"She's beautiful, for a colored girl."

"I wonder where Jones found them."

"Do you think they understand English?"

"...for the life of me, I can't understand why Jones allows them to act as equals. Surely there must be other acrobats?"

And then a sentence about Brooke and her legs so vulgar Will flinches. 

Will glances over, catching sight of a group of men, only a year or two older than him, blatantly staring at Brooke.

The circus costumes were revealing- designed to show more skin than the audience knew what to do with. But Brooke had never looked ashamed in it before.

His fists ball up.

Brooke grabs his wrist. "Leave it."

Will looked at the men again, then back at Brooke.

Nicky stood beside her, hand in hand.

The only consolation he could offer his sister was his solidarity as they both silently endured the stares.

"You deserve better," he murmured, glaring at the men. 

"Very few people in this life get what they deserve," Brooke said tiredly

(Alfred meets the singer Lora Martínez not ten minutes later)  
  


8.

He stands beside her, and he doesn't let go of her hand.  
  


9.

They come back, and Alfred passes along the hat in favor of the path of least resistance- a tour with Lora Martínez.

Will is trying to hold the circus together, but he isn't Alfred.

They're struggling and every day there are more protestors.   
  
  
  
10.   


That night, an audience member throws a bottle at Nicky during the traditional bow and Brooke steps in front of it.

Her eyes are hollow, but she turns to face the next section of the crowd, bowing even with the blood dripping down her temple.

\------------------------

Will drinks that night. The first time he drinks since he joined the circus.

"Gin never solves any problems."

He looks up at Brooke, motioning for her to come over, and despite herself, she does.

The alcohol makes him bold enough to put a hand on her waist and pull her even closer, to tuck her hair behind her ear so he can inspect the ugly wound from where she was bottled. 

Will strokes his thumb over her cheekbone. "I'm sorry," He mumbles.

Brooke shrugs. "Wasn't your fault." She pauses. "You smell like alcohol."

He cups her face, leaning up to kiss her temple beside the cut. 

Brooke goes still. "Will-"

"I should have done  _something_." Will murmurs, sounding gutted. 

"It's alright. If you had started a fight, the circus would be gone." Brooke hesitates before reaching up to rake her fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck. 

 

11.

They haven't talked about it- them- yet.

So Will's a little surprised when Brooke knocks on his office door. He's glad for any excuse to get away from paperwork, but especially glad to see Brooke.

Her hair is pulled into a sleek ponytail, and she's dressed in practice clothes- green shorts and a white shirt and her trapeze boots.

"Can you spot me?" She asks.

"Yes," Will answers, as if he could have ever said anything else.

\------------------------

It isn't like a show, where everything is performance.

This is Brooke having fun. She's bright and shining as she moves so quick he can barely track her.

"Think you can keep up?" She asks, breathless and beautiful, held up by her arms wrapped around the hoop.

"Probably not," Will answers. "But I can try."  
  


12.

"Do you remember when we first saw each other?" Will asks. He sits on the second-floor balcony railing, watching Brooke spin on the aerial hoop. It's so fast he wonders how she isn't dizzy.

She stops spinning. "Yeah. I asked you what your act was."

"No, before that."

(He'd been standing on this very balcony when Brooke had swung towards him. He hadn't known her name, but he knew she was the most ethereal human being he had ever seen, brown skin glowing against her blue costume, silver eyeliner making her eyes look electric, the silver wig making her look unearthly.)

Brooke looks at him. "Yes."

\------------------------

That night, he jumps off the railing and onto the rope, the force tangling him with Brooke as they spin around the ring twenty feet in the air, one hand on the rope and the other around her waist. 

When they drop to the center of the ring, Brooke kisses his cheek and then yanks the rope hard enough that when the sandbag drops she goes flying back up.

Will does something he's never done before: he reaches up and grabs the rope.

Brooke laughs when he pulls her down. He underestimates her weight and they both tumble to sawdust covered floor of the ring, laughing. 

 

13. 

The circus is burning and Will is setting the animals free because Flora won't leave without doing it. 

He sets the last horse free, grabbing Flora's arm and pulling her out of the building. 

"Is everyone here?" He asks, and then begins running through a role call before he hears a question that makes his blood go cold. 

"Nicky, where's Brooke?"

He looks at Nicky, sees the panic and horror and desperation there, and there isn't any other choice. 

He runs back. 

 

14. 

Will doesn't want to wake up. He knows he failed. He hadn't gotten her out. 

His senses come back to him slowly anyway, until he's conscious enough to feel the hands wrapped around his. 

"Please," A familiar voice murmurs. 

He opens his eyes, and Brooke cries and then she kisses him and Will regrets nothing. 

 

15. 

Alfred passes his hat to the elephant, and Will watches as the elephant passes it to Nicky, as it gets passed from Scarlett to the twins to Brooke, who tosses it down to Kendall and so on, going to each performer.

Alfred calls it a hat trick. He does it all the time.

Addison hands it back to Alfred, and Alfred does something he doesn't do all the time.

Never, in fact.

He leaves the ring and passes it to Will.

\------------------------

There's a thump as Brooke lands beside him, seamlessly falling into the dance. She stays at his side for the rest of the song. He isn't sure he's heard her sing before, but now he can hear her voice and it's as beautiful as the rest of her. 

He takes her hand, spinning her and dipping her as the song comes to an end.

And as the last line is sung, he takes off his hat and kisses her.


End file.
